1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a semiconductor structure, and relates particularly to a semiconductor structure having discontinuous strain-releasing layers.
2. Description of Related Art
With the progress of semiconductor technologies, a light emitting diode (LED) now has advantages of high luminance, low power consumption, compactness, low driving voltage, being mercury free, and so forth. Therefore, the LED has been extensively applied in the field of displays and illumination. In general, an LED chip is fabricated by using a broad band-gap semiconductor material, such as gallium nitride (GaN). However, in addition to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient and chemical properties, the difference between the lattice constant of GaN and that of a hetero-substrate cannot be ignored. Hence, due to lattice mismatch, GaN grown on the hetero-substrate undergoes lattice dislocation, and the lattice dislocation extends toward a thickness direction of the GaN layer. Further, because of lattice mismatch between GaN and the hetero-substrate, the material of GaN relative to the hetero-substrate will create great structural stress. As the growth thickness becomes thicker, the stress accumulated becomes greater. When exceeding a threshold value, the material layer will be unable to support the stress, and must deform to release the stress. As such, the lattice dislocation not only causes crystal growth defects which reduce the light emitting efficiency of the LED and shortens lifetime, it also can not grow very thick GaN.